Beta Zone will no longer provide BlackBerry beta OS updates

Update: Added more information at the bottom in regards to how to disable diagnotics logging for those on beta OS releases currently.

Since the BlackBerry Beta Zone refresh in April 2016, the BlackBerry Beta Zone has been providing beta OS updates for BlackBerry smartphones, but as announced today, BlackBerry has decided they will no longer be offering beta OS releases. They will, however, still continue with offering up beta releases for their apps, such as BlackBerry Hub+ Suite.

Since we re-energized the BlackBerry Beta Zone in April 2016 with device OS beta programs, it has been an amazing ride! We've received great feedback, confirmation on existing issues, and squashed many, many bugs. It was an awesome opportunity to engage with everyone who love their BlackBerry smartphones and want to see a top-quality product. Just to show you what I mean, let me show you the numbers:

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has registered for the Beta program over the years and contributed to our products. I look forward to our ongoing engagement with Hub+ for not only our BlackBerry smartphone users, but those you of who have other brands of Android smartphones and just can't get enough of BlackBerry software.

Personally speaking, I don't think this move should come as a surprise to anyone. The BlackBerry Beta Zone has been winding down for a while and the last beta OS update that was officially announced through there was back in January, although, folks still continued to receive a couple beta OS builds after that.

Here's an update for people who were participating in the Android M beta programs.

We've received a number of questions about the status of the beta programs and the devices that were participating. We did send out an email this morning to all of the registered Beta Zone accounts, containing details about removing your device from the beta program, but the details may not have reached everyone.
Here's some additional details for each program!

Android M on DTEK50
There is nothing needed from you to leave the beta program: diagnostic reporting ended on your device in March, and you are now in the very first group to receive production updates when they are released by BlackBerry.

Android M on DTEK60
Diagnostic reporting will end on your device automatically at the end of April, and you are now in the very first group to receive production updates when they are released by BlackBerry. If you wish to disable diagnostic reporting now, you can do so in Settings > Developer options > Log collection > Diagnostic settings > General settings > Capture (set it to Off).

Android M on PRIV
Here's some steps you can take to remove diagnostic reporting from your device:

[Optional] Open the Phone app dialer pad, and enter *#*#GETTOKEN#*#* (which is: *#*#43886536#*#*), then in the pop-up window tap Start, then Save, then restart your device

Somewhere in the program there was information that N was worked on for PRIV and the beta group will receive the initial N beta. With the program shutdown it is now clear that there might not be N for PRIV. That is why several BlackBerry users are unhappy. Also yes or no there is no information provided by BlackBerry to its beta participants.

My understanding is that BlackBerry modified the Kernel to block rooting. Is that still going to be done? If not, then I see nothing differentiating BlackBerry branded phones except the apps which are / will be available separately.

I don't think the abrupt way they did it was the best decision, but maybe now I will get the April security update that I still don't have?
(considering I bought my phone directly from BlackBerry and those are supposed to be getting updates earlier than the carrier purchased)

I'm not surprised, although quite disappointed.
When I found BlackBerry I had a phone that I was very happy with. I liked everything about it. I even loved the idea that it had unlimited free data, even though I was on a basic plan.
I now have a Passport that I love, although I had to downgrade to a Samsung Galaxy S5 as I need some apps that wouldn't run on my Passport.
I'm tempted to save a few $$$ and get a Priv, or upgrade to the new BlackBerry, but I'm worried that it won't be supported by anymore and will become branded with another brand.
I think if BlackBerry continues down this path, more users will be concerned that they will be left with a phone that's no longer supported, and left high and dry. Then with more users jumping ship, the worse BlackBerry will be, and have to cut costs, and the downward spiral will continue until BlackBerry will no longer exist.

Hello Carjackd! Thank you for following. The Beta ending does not mean they are closing. When another Beta becomes available you can apply for anything available to your device. I can not say if this means Nougat is releasing for the PRIV and DTEK line, however should any information become available for Nougat or the future of the PRIV and DTEKs, it will be announced on Inside BlackBerry. https://t.co/TZWu9oKyts

Anything that is related to BB10 is being killed off because Chen made a pact with the devil(Google) which requires that the individual will no longer have right to privacy which BB10 offers. Instead BlackBerry wants us to get on the Android ASAP so the Google and the rest can track and sell us their garbage. In the mean time the truly powerful-big government, banks and business will continue to have the access to BB10 because they know that it is the best OS outhere in the terms of privacy and security.

(Apologies if you received this already today — we’re sending again to make sure it reaches everyone!)

Howdy!

Since we re-energized the BlackBerry BetaZone in April 2016, it has been an amazing ride! We’ve received great feedback, confirmation on existing issues, and squashed many, many bugs. It was an awesome opportunity to engage with everyone who love their BlackBerry smartphones and want to see a top-quality product. Just to show you what I mean, let me show you the numbers:

Nearly 3,000 registered ;Over 9,200 bug reports generated by the community;Over 1,600 forum threads created;300+ new defect reports created by the community; andDiscovery of thousands of defects linked to existing known issues.

Some of you may have heard that BlackBerry is focusing on our great software and security as we start to license our brand and security know-how to our partners who will build, market and support all-new BlackBerry smartphones. Going forward, we will likewise change the way we run our Beta programs. We will continue to support BlackBerry BetaZone, but focused on our BlackBerry Hub+ Suite of applications. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has registered for the Beta program over the years and contributed to our products. I look forward to our ongoing engagement with Hub+ for not only our BlackBerry smartphone users, but those you of who have other brands of Android smartphones and just can’t get enough of BlackBerry software.

Thanks again for your participation and commitment. Here’s some steps you can take to remove diagnostic reporting from your device:

I'm furious, I Will never continue to support BlackBerry software or buy a new BlackBerry product. BlackBerry have absolutly no respect for crackberians. The beta programm communication is a good example. So goodbuy BlackBerry software and hardware, say hello to Apple.

I have a z10, Passport, classic and i'm actually writing on My priv, so yes i have BlackBerrys. I'm not an Apple fanboy, i'm just totally fed up with BlackBerry broken promises (bb10 on PlayBook, 10.3 in time, priv regular updates ==> beta no show april security update, priv with no Android N, etc). I am 100% to convince others olds crackberians to switch for Apple to show to BlackBerry that we need AT least some respect , communication in order to reward our fidelity. So yes i will switch for an iphone like millions of people. BlackBerry need to ses that we are fed up

1. BlackBerry never personally promised you BB10 on the PlayBook ... plus, the PlayBook is 6 years old... time to move on.
2. 10.3 was delayed a little... get over it
3. The Priv gets monthly security updates...

I was hoping for some updates concerning things like the Dtek 60 camera. If the only focus will be on the hub suite, etc and nothing to do with the actual phones then there isn't much incentive to buy BlackBerry Mobile phones.

Didn't I tell you so many times that when support for bb10 died so would support for Googleberry?
It's funny how most of the Googleberry fans here were cheering the demise of BB10 not realizing what was awaiting them.

BlackBerry has a long history of abandoning its users. Why would Googleberry be any different?

What on earth are you even talking about? Last time I checked, the monthly security updates are still coming for the Android phones. Defining "abandonment" as a phone released in 2015 that got an update from Lollipop to Marshmallow but won't get Nougat is a stretch, even for this place.

There is no obligation from Blackberry or anyone else to put an entirely new OS on a 2015 phone. Most Lollipop phones never even got Marshmallow in the first place, so BB has already gone above and beyond most vendors. Anyone expecting years and years of OS upgrades needs to buy an iphone.

I don't need sympathy but you clearly need a reality check. I own and use a Blackberry Passport Silver Edition (ever heard of that?) with a grand total of zero Android apps installed. And I bought that phone 11 months ago knowing full well the OS had no future, but I was fine with that because it's what I wanted.

But see, us grown folks know how to accept things for what they are and move on with life, not gnash teeth on the internet.

You contradict yourself.
You obviously don't accept it.
You wrote a lot of comments about being upset that BlackBerry no longer supports it.
As a mature person, you should have expected that once Chen decided to abandon hardware and the consumer market and switch to enterprise software only.
The android diversion was just meant to "pivot" the naive to android and google's data base before abandoning them altogether.
Crackberry will follow. They already lost the majority of their former users.

So this applies to Android too? This would be kind of strange as they could iron out bugs for their only still-developed OS, if they are still into developing it further. And Android N would really need some betatesting as far as I can see at other manufacturers.

Current beta testers are stuck on March patch as the servers blocked us from receiving updates for the last 4 months. They left us out in the cold and had to push them though manually... now we have nothing at all!

I didn't receive any email communication from BlackBerry on this and im now blocked from receiving any updates... this company is a joke, couldn't organise a **** up in a brewery!

Apparently I didn't get the email either. I just loomed again and even checked the spam folder. Kinda disappointed. Would have wished they would have posted the message on the beta zone forums for those that missed the email.

BETA program is still running, they just won't have a BETA for an OS, but all their apps are still applicable. So his question is valid.
I'd take the question to the forums, might be the best place for support.

BlackBerry is transitioning everything phone related put from under their belts to someone else. They won't do the OS hardening any more ether. They will just farm out the IP to TCL and other partners and leave it up to them to decide when to integrate and how many OS releases to support. If you are thinking about buying another BlackBerry branded device, look carefully at what TCL does to support their existing devices with updates. You will see what will happen with a BlackBerry as well.

I don't know abou t silver edition, but i have no issues in Passport. Apps... well the only apps that i need that are not in BBworld are the home banking apps, wich i run with the android run time. Android have a lot of more issues

@Bla1ze you are a first class gentleman. Always answering so patiently and politely. Some of the stuff seen on Crackberry forums makes you wonder how they even know how to switch their phone on. The "new" Nokia is for them. Keep up the great work.

The people don't read or understand that there are companies out there that never even bother to provide beta releases to begin with and what BlackBerry did with their beta program was a nice gesture but isn't required of them? Yes lol.

OK but why are they ending the beta OS? That's still not explained properly. Don't they want feedback prior to releasing, especially since they can't push out updates on a whim's notice since they need to get carrier approval? Would they prefer releasing a buggy OS and then waiting decades for Verizon to approve the release of the next update? If they got so much great feedback from the Beta Zone, then why close it up? Did they all of a sudden hire 100s of internal beta testers? Is TCL now beta testing?

Feedback for what? They're getting Feedback for the stuff they can address.. The apps! Which are still getting released for betas. They could NEVER fix anything that wasn't really related to the apps or the specific additions they made to the core Android anyway.

Literally, nothing has changed here when you really think about it other than the fact there won't be people getting an OS update slightly ahead of official release. Everyone who was part of the beta has experienced seeing the official OS rollout almost immediately after they got their beta update at one point or another.

I can understand people being mad at the lack of communication but being mad about a beta OS program being removed that wasn't really much of a beta program to begin with seems a bit weird to me.

Sorry I guess so many people are confused because on the one hand BlackBerry says they're hardening the Android OS and then on the other we hear they have nothing to do with the OS. Didn't the Priv's overheating issues relate to the OS and not just the apps or am I missing something? I totally get that Android is controlled by Google but surly the way things are implemented and the way BlackBerry's services run with the OS have some relation.

We all want BlackBerry to succeed which is why so many people participated in the BlackBerry Beta site. Whether the beta OS implementation was flawed is a different story. And we all know if they release something which doesn't run well, they're going to be screwed because they rely so much on carrier approval and good luck getting the next update. People like myself are left wondering, if there's an issue or bug, then where do we report it? The Support Forums are shut down. The Beta Zone is shutting down. There are no BlackBerry stores. The carriers obviously don't care. I guess we can all hope Michael Clewley never leaves BlackBerry.

In a way they are kinda telling folks, there really is no reason to buy a BB phone anymore. They are more focused on their apps, which can be used on any device rather than OS updates for their own devices.

Did TCL know this when they partnered with them? Don't see how this strategy benefits them any.

Exactly... and why the heck would anyone buy any new BB phone with this news? Does this mean they won't be updating Android? Will they be contracting the OS out to TCL as well? Sorry but we need more details on this development.

How many other vendors who make Android devices have a beta OS program?I would not read too much into this, as it seems Blackberry is moving toward a more internal testing rather than public for the Android OS.

The email from Beta Zone terminating the PRIV program indicates that former Beta Testers would be "first in line" to receive production updates. Does this mean that we will get the updates before our carrier releases them? I've got an ATT PRIV on ATT and it still has the beta updater.

So, do we still bypass the carrier updates? Still haven't received the April security patch.

Seriously Blaze, BlackBerry sucks in communication, i am totally disgusted. I'm not thé only one. AT BlackBerry they do not understand that crackberians in thé beta programm where the core community that will help them to increase progressivelly and sell more phones. They treated us with absolutly 0 considérations, no communication, no transparancy. It was a shame. The priv will be thé Last BlackBerry i buy. My relationship with BlackBerry is definitivelly dead.

If we were talking about BlackBerry 10 or BlackBerry OS in this article we would have to concede you that one, but read the news, BlackBerry is making Cash, tons of them, BlackBerry Android isn't doing that bad, I don't even think it is doing bad, not great but not bad either, Just look the Aurora and the KeyOne, if BlackBerry were to abandon BlackBerry Android do you think those two devices aforementioned above would ever exist?

Hahaha.... I heard BlackBerry were getting rid of the lunch lady - which now means their employees have to now go and get their lunch. I think this is a sign that BlackBerry will be shutting down in 3 months.

Why? The biggest portion of the betas was for BlackBerry's OWN apps and those are continuing. None of the core 'Android' stuff was ever going to get fixed through the betas anyway, none of that was ever in BlackBerry's wheelhouse to sort out as they're largely using a stock Android experience.

The largest drawback here is, as yohannyphm pointed out, it was a kinda sorta way to bypass carriers being slow af! To be honest, the OS betas were really nothing more than a nice gesture to the community, because again, the main components that BlackBerry is concerned about is their own apps and how they run on the existing Android base. Heck, most of the time the betas arrived only slightly ahead of the public release.

But no one at BlackBerry has mentioned anymore updates for BB10. 10.3.3 got delivered at the end of their planned support window for BB10 - when they had said 10.3.4 would arrive. At this point there isn't much reason to expect anymore "updates".

My thoughts exactly.....they're telling us over and over again that they won't stop supporting the OS, but they've just shut down the official support and now they're pulling the plugs on beta. All we need do is wait till the real thing happens. We all know it's the end for BlackBerry OS(s)

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